The Curator’s Journal by Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura offers the ultimate insider’s view of bonsai at The North Carolina Arboretum. Regular entries chronicle growing an art and growing an enterprise. Some journal entries will be long and others more brief; some will be mostly words and others mostly pictures; some will be close-up studies of detail and others will step back to take in the wider scene.

The path will not be linear, but all the entries will be steps on a journey. You’re invited to come along.

Preview the latest entries and resources offered below. With Joura as a knowledgeable guide, you can forgo the map and travel in time to meet remarkable trees, each with stories and life lessons worth sharing.

REcent Journal Entries

Featured
Trident Maple in Training, June Prune
Trident Maple in Training, June Prune

Every choice the grower makes has some effect. Good design depends on good choices, and choices have a better chance of being good if they are done with thoughtful, well-informed intention.

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Think of a Tree - Part 3, Of Plants and People
Think of a Tree - Part 3, Of Plants and People

No eyes, ears or mouth, no face, no arms or legs, no hands or feet — plants have no body parts that are recognizably the same as ours. Plants don't look like us. They don't act like us and we can't communicate with them. 

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Think of a Tree - Part 2, On the Nature of Pets
Think of a Tree - Part 2, On the Nature of Pets

Once we identify with something we tend to personalize it. Once we personalize something we grant it status as a unique entity, one of many, but separate and worthy of its own recognition in the greater scheme of life.

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Spring Display 2025
Spring Display 2025

In the bonsai world, shows happen all the time. That highly reactive interface between human beings, with their individual natures, and little designed trees, each with its own character, can be found at any bonsai show. Our show is different, though. Most bonsai shows last for a few days or maybe a week at the most, while the show in the Arboretum's bonsai garden runs for more than half a year.

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Think of a Tree - Part 1, A Tree From Memory
Think of a Tree - Part 1, A Tree From Memory

It was not until almost thirty years later that I identified that tree, from memory. So clear was my recollection of time spent up in that tree's boughs that I could distinctly recall the look of its bark, the shape of its leaves, the form of its structure. Once I started working at the Arboretum and learned something about plant science, these memories were enough for me to know the tree's botanical identity. 

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Explore Entries By Collection


People are often interested in a specific topic within the art of bonsai. The journal entries have been sorted to reflect that, making it easier for readers to find entries covering material they would like to read about in greater depth.

 
 

Recommended viewing

Featured
The American Elm
The American Elm

From a simple seed grows a mighty tree — and a great new video by Ben Kirkland, content creator of the popular YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai. He documents Arthur Joura in the 2019 styling demonstration that was the making of The American Elm.

A Radical Redesign: Tanuki
A Radical Redesign: Tanuki

Life, death, rebirth. Bonsai curator Arthur Joura undertakes an unusual and challenging redesign of an old juniper bonsai from the Arboretum's collection. The work was recorded live and edited by Visiting Artist Ben Kirkland, creator of the YouTube channel Appalachian Bonsai.

Creating a Tray Landscape
Creating a Tray Landscape

In Creating a Tray Landscape, Arboretum Bonsai Curator Arthur Joura creates a new planting featuring a lone weathered hornbeam and woody shrubs assembled with sculptural rocks on a natural stone slab. It makes for a scene evocative of the craggy Southern Appalachian highlands.

Repotting the River of Dreams
Repotting the River of Dreams

An iconic tray landscape — The River of Dreams — is de-constructed and its individual elements are reassembled to create a new composition, which is then replanted into a new and larger American-made container.

Out of the Box
Out of the Box

This second video of the series, "Out of the Box," shows what happens in several years when a bonsai-in-training is ready to take another significant step toward becoming a presentable piece.

A SMALL Sampling OF Bonsai IN THE Arboretum’s COLLECTION

Captions may not be supported when viewing on a mobile device. Find a list of the bonsai currently on display here.

“We use bonsai as an interpretive tool to help excite people about nature, to help engage them, to make their visit to the Arboretum special... That focus exclusively on the natural aspect, that’s what sets us apart. Here, bonsai is a way for people to see nature differently. ”
— Arthur Joura